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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28081131">In the Tones of Your Voice</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/joyinrespite/pseuds/joyinrespite'>joyinrespite</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Epilogue, F/M, Gen, Slow Burn, also send these poor characters to therapy, be warned its not super shippy, episodic, forget about the sequel this has nothing to do with the sequel, im trying to translate the feeling of playing this game to prose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:48:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,971</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28081131</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/joyinrespite/pseuds/joyinrespite</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Two souls find themselves in a world that has moved on from their war, a world that has slowly forgotten them. Princesses and knights are now but relics of a bygone era, the subjects of romantic tales. The castle walls have crumbled and given way to new growth while the two of them have been frozen in time. Somewhere in the wild lands of Hyrule, they must find their new purpose.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>For Link, one hundred years had passed in an instant and an eternity, in twilight repose as his soul was held once more in Hylia’s gentle hands and his body held in darkness, waiting to be reunited. Link had been reborn countless times before, but never like this, into a world that felt so familiar but so empty. He was treated like an old friend by people he had no recollection of ever knowing. In the early days after his awakening, everything felt wrong. Something was missing, and he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get it back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>For Hyrule, time passed as it always did, as slowly as vines and moss grew to cover the jagged edges of ruined buildings, as inevitably as the Calamity’s cyclical return. It did not and could not wait for anyone. Its people rebuilt and salvaged what they could and left behind what they could not. Even the Calamity itself, an ever-present threat, faded from the collective awareness of the kingdom, as new generations were born and told the tale as if it were mere legend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zelda spent her century in a dream. That was the only way she could describe it—a haze, a delirium, suspended outside of time by the Goddess’ power. Her mind and heart were so singularly focused on holding back the Calamity that nothing else was left of her—until the Goddess gave her hope. The stirring of Link’s mind when the Shrine of Resurrection released him from slumber was like a crowing cucco interrupting a nightmare.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Link. Open your eyes.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>She saw Hyrule for the first time in a century through his eyes, and she saw how the entire world had forgotten her. Even Link himself. She did not despair, overjoyed just to see him alive, but a part of her wept when he looked into the eyes of her father and said that he did not know her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Slipping in and out of consciousness, she saw only glimpses of his journey, usually when he was in the presence of Ganon’s malice, intertwined as she was with the Calamity. She felt his footsteps in the Divine Beasts, and she rejoiced in Ganon’s rage with the defeat of each of his blights. She saw Link stare down countless Guardians, and every single time, she remembered his last stand in the shadow of the Dueling Peaks and feared for his life.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the apogees of Ganon’s power, she could spare a glimpse at Link’s quieter moments. She saw him standing serenely beneath Lanayru’s East Gate where they had once stood a hundred years before, on the worst day of their lives. She saw him working out a puzzle within a shrine. She watched him attend a wedding. She saw him speak to Teba, who asked Link why he wanted to tame the Divine Beasts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“To rescue Zelda,” he replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Under the bloody red sky where Zelda finally felt the ground beneath her feet once more, her mind was still in a fog. Overwhelmed and exhausted, she still had one remaining fear, even with the safety of Hyrule secured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“May I ask...do you really remember me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link smiled one of his rare and perfect smiles, and the nightmare was finally over.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When Zelda woke in a stable inn bed the next morning, Link was already outside and tending to their horses. She joined him, finding him feeding an apple to a gorgeous white mare not unlike the one she used to ride. It gave her chills, this familiarity, like nothing had even happened. Only the ruined castle looming behind them assured her that it had been more than a nightmare.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link paused when he saw her. She could tell that he wasn’t yet used to having her around again. His eyes were more intense than ever, his hair a mess, muscular arms toned from wielding the sword that seals the darkness. She cleared her throat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I noticed you’ve figured out more of the Sheikah Slate’s features. May I see it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He handed it over and returned to the horses. She sat by the fire.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first thing she found was the album. She looked through the pictures she’d taken before and then scrolled over to the ones he’d added. There was a bug-eyed girl (who, from what Zelda could see, could have easily been the granddaughter of the royal scientist, Purah), a doe in what looked like Lanayru, the russet trees of Akkala, a self portrait of Link standing beneath the Blood Moon with his hand posed to make it look like he was holding it. The latter made Zelda laugh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re very good at using the camera,” she said. “And I noticed it includes a functioning map now. It’s incredible seeing all of Hyrule like this. Are all the blue symbols shrines? How do I—”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With that, she disappeared in a flash of blue. Link dropped the apples he was holding and froze. Thankfully, after about thirty seconds of panic, he spotted another flash of blue from the shrine nearest to the stable and ran toward it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Standing on the shrine’s glowing blue dais, Zelda shivered. Her hair was dusted with snowflakes. “I usually do a little more p-preparation before stepping foot in Hebra, but altogether, it was at least a useful learning experience.” She looked at the Slate. “That was </span>
  <em>
    <span>nauseating, </span>
  </em>
  <span>though. Let’s stick to the horses from now on.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link cracked a smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s so funny?” she asked, trying and failing to keep a straight face. As they fell into laughter, Link remembered the Deku Tree’s words; she truly did have a smile like the sun.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad you’re back,” he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took Zelda by surprise. Excluding the rarity of hearing him speak at all, his voice always caught her by surprise; it didn’t seem to belong to someone like him. He spoke as softly as a birdsong on a breeze, hardly befitting the most skilled knight in Hyrule.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zelda composed herself. “I’m glad, too.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“You’ve really become quite the chef, you know.” Zelda mounted her horse as they prepared to leave the stable. “And with only a wok over an open flame to work with, too. Quite impressive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other guests at the stable paid them no mind, although Beedle had just finished harassing Link into giving him a bladed rhino beetle, and many were discussing the spectacle they’d seen the previous night. No one knew what had happened, but several people proposed their theories.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now, of course, the sky was clear and bright in the midday sun. The tall grass of Central Hyrule shimmered in the sunlight, lush and overgrown. Zelda spotted something moving within it and gasped.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Guardians!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Without another word, she took off for the hills, forcing Link to hastily jump onto his horse and follow her, bow drawn. He nocked one of the heavy ancient arrows, ready to face the corrupted war machine, terrified that he wouldn’t make it in time to protect Zelda.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he crested the hill, he saw the Guardian facing away from her, illuminated in blue light. He put himself between it and Zelda and drew his bow as it turned around to stare him down with its unblinking eye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zelda’s shout stopped him from releasing the arrow. His pulse raced. He held his breath as the Guardian turned away again to resume its patrol.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, this is wonderful. I can finally figure out how these work!” Zelda hopped off her horse and approached the spiderlike legs of the Guardian. “If we can control them, imagine how useful they’ll be in rebuilding Hyrule.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link lowered his bow and put away the arrow, but he was unable to calm his nerves around the Guardian. He was waiting for its blue light to turn red.  Just in case, he stayed close to Zelda as she tried to get its attention.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If only Father had let me talk to the researchers...I imagine there’s not a soul left in Hyrule who knows how this technology works.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is. Robbie. In Akkala.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really? I’ll have to speak with him. I also want to see if this Sheikah Slate is hiding anything else…I suppose we’ll be doing a lot of traveling.” Giving up on the oblivious Guardian, she hopped back onto her horse. “Will Akkala be our first stop, then?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. You should rest.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, please, I feel fine. I’m not as weak as you think I am. I feel </span>
  <em>
    <span>fine</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was taken aback. “You’re not weak. You’ve just destroyed the Calamity.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh. I suppose.” She didn’t know what else to say. “Where did you want to go, then?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hateno Village.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s where you live now, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suppose you would want to return home after all of that. I understand.” As she urged her horse back onto the trail, she looked over her shoulder at the ruins of Hyrule Castle. “I suppose I have no home anymore. Even if we manage to repair it...”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course you have a home,” Link said. He spoke even more quietly than usual, so she hardly caught it. He urged his horse forward before she could ask him to elaborate. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>In the shadow of the Dueling Peaks, as they followed the river, they passed an empty camp with wooden clubs leaning against a log. A fire was still burning in the middle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, that’s one question answered,” Zelda remarked. “Ganon’s forces have died with him. He used every last shred of his power...and whatever remained of him is gone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s over, then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I believe so. If there’s nothing left to tether him to this world, then yes, it’s over.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were both quiet as the realization began to fully settle in. Both were told of the cycle as an indisputable fact, woven into the great tapestry of Hyrule’s history as deeply as life itself. Their world—one of knights and royalty and ancient prophecies—seemed not to have a place in this reborn Hyrule. It grew now from the dirt, from the ground up. The castle was gone, the tapestries burned. There was no kingdom to call Zelda its princess. History was starting anew.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The path narrowed as they entered the pass between the jagged cliffs of the Dueling Peaks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you remember taking this route to Mount Lanayru?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s like that all happened in a dream.” She looked up at the sliver of blue sky between the Peaks. “It feels like yesterday and a hundred years ago all at once.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked over at him, wondering what it was like to have forgotten, to have remembered only bits and pieces of his own life. His hair fell in his face, shielding his expression from her. He, too, felt familiar in such a distant and strange way; he looked fresher, stronger, more invigorated than she’d ever seen him before, strengthened by the Slumber of Restoration and the many blessings of the Goddess he’d received in his preparations to face Ganon. Yet the years seemed to weigh on him. She could see the scars on his skin, some old, some new. The two of them had returned to each other as different people.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A stable waited for them where the path opened up. Beyond it was the vast field where Link fell over a hundred years ago. A group of horses galloped over the decaying Guardians.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Link had so much he wanted Zelda to know, so much he could never bring himself to say. He wanted her to know the weight he felt in his chest from the moment he stepped out of the Slumber of Restoration, the weight of guilt and longing. He may not have consciously remembered Zelda at first, but she never left his mind. He likely wouldn’t have been able to even leave the Great Plateau if not for her. If it had not been for his determination to save her. To return to this: riding beside her, listening to her, seeing the sparkle in her eyes when something caught her interest.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She has a smile like the sun, </span>
  </em>
  <span>he was told.</span>
  <em>
    <span> I would do much to feel its warmth upon me once again.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He wanted her to see the guilt he felt for leaving her alone to fight Ganon for so long. He wanted to show her why he so adamantly stayed by her side, not only out of sworn duty to the kingdom but for what he saw in her. He wanted her to see that she was so much more than what she was told. Most importantly, he wanted her to know what she meant to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But words are only words. He knew they would not be enough. No reassurance ever reached Zelda’s ears, as she saw only what they left out. Princesses receive plenty of praise, enough to turn praise into a weed—plentiful and irritating. Zelda had had poems and songs written about her. She hated them all. And Link, as far from a poet as a person could possibly be, couldn’t write in a thousand volumes the magnitude of his feelings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Letting actions supplement his words worked well for Link for most of his life. He declared his love with the swing of a sword, and he did not know a single string of words that could compare, no poem, no song. But the sword seemed not to have a place in this new world. Link felt once more as he did as a child, unable to bring himself to speak at all. He felt an itch in his soul that he had no means to soothe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Beside him, Zelda held her posture rigid. She always rode as if leading a parade, even now, with her sullied dress and tangled hair. Her efforts to clean up at the stable could only go so far. Yet Link was, in a way, glad to see her white dress ruined. She had never looked happy while wearing it until they reunited in Hyrule Field.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She turned to Link, who looked away in shame. She looked away, too.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The wind carried the chimes of bells through the Pillars of Levia. A Korok flying through the pass waved at Zelda as she and Link passed beneath a Sheikah gate. She held the reins a little tighter in anticipation of reuniting with Impa.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In Kakariko village, a few faces turned toward them, and upon seeing Link, they smiled and waved, though Zelda felt their curiosity towards her. They stopped before the guards at Impa’s home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Link!” one of them cried. “Is it true? Has the Calamity been defeated?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nodded, and the guards dropped to their knees in reverence. Knowing how Link felt about such displays, Zelda dismounted her horse to hurry this part along.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re here to speak with Impa. I’ve no doubt she’s expecting us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of them looked up at her. “I’m sorry, miss, but who are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t recall ever being asked that question. “I...am an old friend of Impa’s. And of Link’s.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you vouch for this, Master Link?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The guards stood aside, opening the way up the stairs to Impa’s front door, which opened before they were even halfway up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, you’re finally back.” Impa’s eyes shone with pride. “It’s been a long time, Zelda.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ignoring the gasps from the guards behind her—”Wait, you mean the princess?”—Zelda flew up the stairs and into Impa’s arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Careful, dear,” Impa said, laughing, “I didn’t age as well as you did, you know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, Impa.” Zelda wiped a tear. “It’s so good to see you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You too. Come in, make yourself comfortable. I think it’s time I caught both of you up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Over tea, Impa told them about the hundred years they’d missed. Despair, grief, fear, hope. Unthinkable pain that faded into dull memories.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I never doubted you two for a second.” She slapped her knee. “Thank you for proving me right yet again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zelda looked down. “I...I’m sorry it took so long.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Impa rapped her fingers against her teacup as she considered her next words. “I should have given your father a good whack upside the head when I had the chance.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zelda started. “What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That man had no idea what he was talking about, ordering you around the way he did. I should have stood up for you before his bitter tongue could get to you the way it did.” She sighed. “I’ve had much time to think about those days, Zelda. Although I try my best not to fixate on past regrets...I could not help but ask myself what I could have done differently. The conclusion I reached after many years  was that the king—and I am not innocent of it either—saw you as a means to an end, and treated you like a weapon rather than a person. It is the greatest injustice I have ever committed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zelda saw tears budding in Impa’s eyes. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Impa, I’m so sorry it had to be that way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman shook her head. “It did not.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zelda didn’t know what to say.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You two will be staying the night, won’t you? It’s already dark.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, has that much time passed already?” Zelda hadn’t noticed the darkness at the windows until that moment. “Yes, we should rest. Thank you for your hospitality.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No need to be so formal, dear.” Impa smiled, but there was a sadness in it. While she saw the same old friend before her, she knew that Zelda saw an old woman, a village elder, a different person—and indeed she was, after a hundred years of living.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next morning, they hugged goodbye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stay safe out there,” Impa told them. “And have fun.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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